I thought of a weekly medical info to my friends… This week is cardiac arrest. Seems related to recent sudden deaths.
cardiac arrest, or circulatory arrest, is the abrupt cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively during systole.
The resulting lack of blood supply results in cell death from oxygen starvation. Cerebral hypoxia, or lack of oxygen supply to the brain, causes victims to lose consciousness and to stop breathing, which in turn causes the heart to stop. Brain damage is likely to occur after 3-4 minutes, except in cases of hypothermia. To improve survival and neurological recovery immediate response is paramount.
Cardiac arrest is a medical emergency that, in certain groups of patients, is potentially reversible if treated early enough. When cardiac arrest leads to death this is called sudden cardiac death (SCD).[1] The primary first-aid treatment for cardiac arrest is cardiopulmonary resuscitation (commonly known as CPR).
Congestive heart failure (CHF), also called congestive cardiac failure (CCF) or just heart failure, is a condition that can result from any structural or functional cardiac disorder that impairs the ability of the heart to fill with or pump a sufficient amount of blood throughout the body. It is not to be confused with "cessation of heartbeat", which is known as asystole, or with cardiac arrest, which is the cessation of normal cardiac function in the face of heart disease. Because not all patients have volume overload at the time of initial or subsequent evaluation, the term "heart failure" is preferred over the older term "congestive heart failure". Congestive heart failure is often undiagnosed due to a lack of a universally agreed definition and difficulties in diagnosis, particularly when the condition is considered "mild".
Acute myocardial infarction (AMI or MI), commonly known as a heart attack, is a serious, sudden heart condition usually characterized by varying degrees of chest pain or discomfort, weakness, sweating, nausea, vomiting, and arrhythmias, sometimes causing loss of consciousness. It occurs when the blood supply to a part of the heart is interrupted, causing death and scarring of the local heart tissue. Since the area affected may be large or small, the severity of heart attacks vary, but they are often a life-threatening medical emergency which demand both immediate attention and activation of the emergency medical services.
Diagnosis is by the combination of medical history, ECG findings and blood tests for cardiac enzymes. The most important treatment in myocardial infarction is restoring the blood flow to the heart, by thrombolysis (enzymatically dissolving the clot in the artery) and/or angioplasty (using a balloon to push the artery open). Close monitoring on a coronary care unit is mandatory to observe for various complications. There is emphasis on secondary prevention, the elimination of risk factors that could lead to further heart attacks.
The medical term myocardial infarction derives from myocardium (the heart muscle) and infarction (tissue death), in this case caused by an obstruction of blood flow. The phrase "heart attack" is occasionally used to refer to heart problems other than a myocardial infarction, such as unstable angina pectoris.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cardiac_arr…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/heart_failu…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/heart_attac…
